Otter Pro Lodge for Ranger got it today

So after the Ranger being in the shop for nearly a month waiting for parts to come in it came home today and along with it came the Otter Polaris XT Pro Lodge. They installed it on the back of the Ranger at the shop. First thing I ran into is once I got it up on the trailer I found out I couldn’t latch the ramp in the up position because the Otter hangs about a foot over the length of the Ranger box. The pins for the ramp were about a inch from locking into the bracket. So I had a extra strap and strapped the ramp in the up position to get home. I will have to do some minor mods on the trailer. Always something right?

So once home I did a dry run of setting it up and taking it down. So here are my impressions. The cover for it is a TIGHT fit. It takes some working it to get it on and off. I expect it will stretch a bit over time but I like for it to be a nice tight fit actually.

The guy at the shop gave me a short rundown on how to put it up but we didn’t actually do it. I didn’t anticipate any problems.
I guess it took me maybe 10 minutes to get it set up but I was taking my time eyeballing for any rips, tears, out of shape poles etc. First glance everything looks good.
First thing I really liked are there are 7 windows so you get lots of light in and can see your tip ups if you are standing or sitting.
This will be perfect for days when you are flying solo which I do often because I’m retired and a lot of my fishing buddy’s are still working. However it will fish 2 but there won’t be room for much anything else in the fishing area. Once it’s set up you have the entire box of the Ranger to put your gear in. I ran the heater in it on low and in about 15 minutes it was toasty warm but it was 17 degrees out side with little wind.

Overall fit and finish seem to be very good. There will be some tweaking as I go along I’m sure. So we are going in the deep freeze the next several days so hoping to get it out on the ice this weekend if not sooner.

I saw this at the St Paul Sport show and was intrigued. However, it doesn’t seem practical for hauling the gear too. Without a special auger rack it does not appear you can haul that. What about other gear, will your heater, 20 lb tank, minnow bucket, rod box, bucket/gear bag whatever go in the box of the bed with the Otter stowed away? If so, can you access it if you need something? I’m hoping for positive responses on these questions because this is something I’d love to have.

If the above will not stow in the box, then I have to consider if I’m pulling a gear sled is there an advantage. I would think so because on my Clam/sled I’ve got all my stuff jammed in there and have to unpack and pack it up to set up and move. But, not if I am pulling my Clam with my Ranger, the gear can go in the box…

Hmmm…

Looks pretty slick, but Boats raises some interesting questions about storage.

Following.

You need to buy a second ranger to haul gear. Ha ha just joking, I hope

What is the sq. footage of ice coverage? Looks kind of small once you have a chair, heater and such?

Ya boats it’s interesting but it definitely would work for me. No room to haul gear, looks like just enough room for 1 person. Limited versatility with it, seams spendy for a shack you can only use with the ranger, I surely hope it fits Keith’s needs and sounds like for his use it should. Looking forward on results at seasons end

To bad they don’t make a slot in the fabric so you could use your receiver to then mount a Otter bench seat in there. But then that’s something else to haul I guess. Looks like a sweet outfit for sure. Especially if your solo most of the time

I have yet to get this on the ice myself so I can’t speak from experience. I have to do a minor mod to my trailer before I take it to the ice and we are staring down the barrel of well below zero temps for the next week.

There is some room for things in the box as shown in the picture in this link but it is limited.
https://ranger.polaris.com/en-us/shop/accessories/hunt-accessories/2882199/

There is no doubt this is going to pose some challenges in storage and transport of gear. How severe will depend on your intended application.
From my perspective I looked at this from the standpoint of fishing alone or 1 other person. I’m retired so I can fish during the week when most of my fishing buddies are working. Before buying this, once I had the Ranger up on the trailer I had no room for a sled with a flip over. Also I do not drive a pick up I have a Expedition and didn’t want to have to deal with trying to load a dirty sled up in the back.

So having the Otter mounted to the back of the Ranger solved some larger issues for me. As far as gear transport when I’m going solo I see no problem. I can put the auger directly behind the cab on top of the Otter and strap it down along with some other things like rod bag maybe the heater etc.

My electronics, propane tank (which I will probably go to a 10 instead of a 20 gallon) can ride in the cab of the Ranger with me with room to spare. If there’s two us probably be the same scenario only things will be a little more cozy in the cab.

I can buy a auger mount for the front of the Ranger as long as it allows me to pull my Ranger all the way to the front of the trailer. I have a Sure-Trac 5X8 galvanized with 12″ high sides and front.

I’ve always felt I bring too much stuff with me on the ice anyhow so this will force me to trim things back. If you noticed the DeWalt heater in the pic I bought that because it does a number of things. It’s a heater, light, usb charger and will run most of the weekend on my Dewalt 5.0ah battery. So don’t need extra batteries don’t need to bring a extra light it’s all in one unit.

So I’ll learn a lot more about it in the coming weeks and have plenty of time to make adjustments over the summer for next season.

ib_jigged wrote:

What is the sq. footage of ice coverage? Looks kind of small once you have a chair, heater and such?

I measured it while it was set up in the dealers showroom and I came up with 25 sq. ft. Otter claims 26.5 but whatever. Keep in mind that once it’s set up the entire box of the Ranger is now available to put whatever you want in there. I tried the heater up there but no heat was getting to the floor of the fishing area but that was only letting the heater run for 15 minutes. I might try to move it up front in one of the corners when there is two of us.

Again it’s going to be about making adjustments and trial and error but i’m confident I’m going to like using this a lot.

Let me know when you get tired of it and want to dump it

Why not tow a big sled with your gear?

Sylvanboat wrote:

Why not tow a big sled with your gear?

Keith has options, looks like he can tow sled too.

______________ wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Sylvanboat wrote:</div>
Why not tow a big sled with your gear?

Keith has options, looks like he can tow sled too.

Yep that’s a option but kind of a last resort. Right now I’m determined to try keep things where I can get to the lake back the Ranger off the trailer and pretty much go and I think I can pretty much make that happen especially when I’m by myself. When someone is with me the only extra gear should be a rod bag, electronics, chair, tackle box extra beer and lunch. I should be able to find room for that stuff somewhere.

If there’s more than two of us that usually means separate vehicles and someone else brings a flip over or a hub house anyhow.

I also have a buddy who is kind of a fabricator savant. Guy can build anything without plans. I’m thinking I could put a front receiver hitch on the Ranger and have him build me a auger holder and cargo carrier that will go into the receiver hitch. That way I can leave it on the Ranger without having to take it off to flip the house out. There’s a million ideas floating around in my pea brain right now of how I can get this done.

Looks like a very cool set up for what you need.

Put a couple of bucket mounts and a propane tank mount on the sides of the box never have to move the tank.

Dusty Gesinger wrote:

Put a couple of bucket mounts and a propane tank mount on the sides of the box never have to move the tank.

Good idea especially on the propane tank mount! Thanks!

What about a hitch cargo basket? I wonder if that could be useful for the travels to/from the fishing spot. Obviously it would have to come off when the tent gets flipped.

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Bass Thumb wrote:

What about a hitch cargo basket? I wonder if that could be useful for the travels to/from the fishing spot. Obviously it would have to come off when the tent gets flipped.

could you put some sides on the basket. leave on the machine, have ready inside storage when otter is set up. just a thought.

Bass Thumb wrote:

What about a hitch cargo basket? I wonder if that could be useful for the travels to/from the fishing spot. Obviously it would have to come off when the tent gets flipped.

That’s kind of what I had in mind but I’d put a front hitch on the Ranger and put it up front so it doesn’t have to come off when I flip the house over. I’d also want to incorporate a auger holder into it. That’s where my buddy fabricator savant comes in!

Not going to help Keith as he already has his, but I saw Pro Fab Outdoors has a house that flips over on a ranger as well that sits on top of their Ranger Toppers. Would solved the storage problem, but the toppers seem pretty expensive.

Keith – There are a lot of front auger mounts for rangers that bolt into the front bumper. That would leave room below for your storage rack. Wouldn’t need to have them incorporated together. Minn-Dakokta Industries is one company you could look at to get an idea. I had a buddy of mine make one similar to what they used and attach my digger carrier to it. Was relatively easy.

That Pro Fab flip over runs about $2300. I was a bit squeamish dropping a grand on this one. There are lots of options that can come into play for storage and transport. I’ve considered that Minn Dakota auger mount for the front as BigWalleye30 pointed out.

I did find out I can put my rod bag, chair, heater if I lay it on it’s back, minnow bucket, shovel all that stuff in the back with the fish house on the Ranger. The frame lays on the side rails on the Ranger box. The fabric just kind of drapes down inside. You just have to kind of push the fabric up as you put things in. Taller items that can’t be laid down like maybe a 20lb propane tank might be more of a challenge. I don’t want it laying down back there rolling around so that just goes in front cab. The auger will lay on top of the fish house directly behind the cab with a strap on it. this will work out just fine and I won’t need a sled. Today and tomorrow and just to brutal cold so I’m not venturing out. Still have my trailer mods to do so I can close the ramp.

Sounds like more snow in the forecast as well. I don’t know how getting around on some of the local lakes is going to be without any plowed ice roads with too much more snow. Waiting for all the planets to align!

I have a ranger 1000 with Camso tracks on it, do you thin this Otter/Polaris Clam will fit with the tracks on it? the vertical frame looks like it would hit the tracks, the tracks stick out about 12 inches past the tailgate and are quite wide too. The photos is not of my machine but you can see how far back the tracks go.

Anyone try this clam with tracks?

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I don’t think the Polaris Otter would work to well with tracks. Pro Fab makes one designed for use with tracks but you are getting up towards 3 grand I think. That’s ridiculous imo. I fish by myself during the week so this set up works great especially early ice. I think I used it 4 times this year before my wheel house was allowed out. It fills the need nicely for me.

FUYU Outdoors has a similar setup that works well with tracked UTVs. It’s quite a bit larger though (39sq ft) but comes with a hefty price tag.